<p>Are you certain that Dartmouth will have good FA? I remember comparing my FA offers and Dartmouth offered me less than any other university. Less than Harvard, as expected, but also less than Chicago, MIT, Swarthmore, Georgetown, etc…</p>
<p>Dartmouth puts an especially high value on spirit: the reason ED is so significant there is that they want students for whom Dartmouth is not a second choice, for whom Dartmouth’s strengths are appealing. (Most schools want this, of course, but Dartmouth has, or thinks it has, a unique culture which it wants its applicants to appreciate.) While it is true that a good many of the ED spots are taken up by athletes, it is also true that in the ED round the student who sincerely wants Dartmouth, as distinct from “whatever other ivy that will accept me,” has an advantage over the RD round in which that preference is not as clear. A legacy who applies ED is a different animal from one who applies RD: it is, I think, assumed that a legacy ought to know whether Dartmouth is a fit or not, and if he or she doesn’t apply ED it is reasonable to assume that he or she doesn’t, in fact, think Dartmouth is a fit. So a legacy who applies RD does not get a legacy boost, and Dartmouth will tell you as much. (To go along with that, however, Dartmouth will also tell you that legacy simply doesn’t mean as much, in terms of admissions boost, as many would like to think it does. There are many alumni harboring resentment on those grounds).</p>
<p>What this means for OP’s daughter is that if she can make a good case for Dartmouth being her first choice, because it is her first choice, I think she is better off applying ED. If it’s not, not.</p>
<p>We are in the free tuition category at Dartmouth (under 100k with regular assets), so the EFC there is pretty low comparatively. The NPC gives me about 10k/yr. This is higher than we’re paying at Wellesley, but lower than the EFC at BC by a lot (about 10k/yr).</p>
<p>You can apply EA to as many schools as you want at BC or Georgetown, but you can’t apply anywhere ED. (You can apply ED2 after you hear, which is available at a small number of schools.)</p>
<p>Our experience with D1 was that Brown was lower than expected on aid, Swarthmore was horrible, Rice was exceptional (scholarship plus aid). D1 got a couple of full ride offers (Scripps, Occidental, Whittier, state schools) and large scholarships at BU, Northeastern and Smith. She was rejected at Yale, so I did not see their aid numbers. The numbers were all over the place. </p>
<p>Basically, we can pay up to 20k for D2 with consistent aid at Wellesley (hopefully it will go down with 2 in college), but it will be unpleasant, and D3 is the least likely to get aid (probably looking at schools that are not as competitive, but is also more likely to stay in state) and will start college as D1 finishes. (D1 and D2 are likely to go to grad school of some type, but that will have to be negotiated later, after I take a trip to Venice 
)</p>
<p>D2 wants a more laid-back environment, with school spirit and fun, active people. She probably has the resume to be competitive anywhere, but she doesn’t really want the super intense vibe she felt at places like Yale, and we don’t want to push that, even if the aid might be better. (She lived hanging out at Dartmouth, and we all found the campus to be extremely friendly and helpful.)</p>
<p>Georgetown is weird, it’s not SCEA, but they don’t want you to apply to another school ED. (you can apply to other EA schools.) They also don’t reject anyone early. So getting deferred is not a mild positive the way it can be at other schools.</p>
<p>"Dartmouth puts an especially high value on spirit: the reason ED is so significant there is that they want students for whom Dartmouth is not a second choice, for whom Dartmouth’s strengths are appealing. "</p>
<p>Absolutely true. And there are quite a few other schools for which this holds true. One of the most helpful things my child received from the college counseling office was a list of schools that in their experience subscribed to the same sentiment. These sorts of nuances are helpful as an applicant categorizes their EA/ED/RD apps.</p>
<p>Northwestern, for one, with Shapiro as President.</p>
<p>Dartmouth offered my S approximately $20K per year more than the U of C, working with the same facts.</p>